Brighouse Rangers U12’s 10 v Methley Warriors 26

Brighouse Rangers U12’s 10 v Methley Warriors 26

Match stats:

Tries: 

Joel Thurtle, 

Riley Knapton

Conv:

Jacob Dewhirst

Magic Moment:  

Riley Knapton’s try capping off some wonderful team play

Grafters:              

Sam Lee and Kurt Fisher

Coaches Player: 

Will Young

P.O.M:

Whole team

Rangers travelled to Methely for a rare, mid-season friendly which was designed to keep both teams playing during a lull in fixtures.

Methley presented as a sizable and skilful team and, as they play in the division above, it promised to be a tough day.

Conditions were great underfoot with a firm pitch but the heat of the sun also promised to make this game hard work.

Rangers were confident before kick-off and started confidently at 100mph. After a strong first attack down the middle, fullback, Joel Thurtle broke down the right side and outpaced the Methely defence to score at the right of the posts. Stand-Off, Jacob Dewhirst was unable to convert.

Methley hit back with tries from their big forwards and a punishing centre who gave the Rangers’ right side some real work to do in defence.

The game continued and a Rangers attack in the Methley 20m zone ended with a try for wingman, Riley Knapton. The attack came after quick hands from hooker, Sam Lee, finding Dewhirst who fed scrum-half Daniel Clarke. Dan created a classic 2 v 1, drew the defender and found a pinpoint pass to Knapton who beat 2 defenders to ground the ball. Dewhirst converted.

Following this try, the Rangers’ opposite wingman also burst his way through many defenders to find the line but the referee called a knock-on.

The Rangers’ pack continued to impress and every player worked hard, none more so than prop forward, Kurt Fisher. This was easily Fisher’s best defensive performance so far this season. Debut back-rower, Will Young showed up strong and gave the Methley left-side plenty of problems. Young earned himself Coaches Player for a strong debut performance and his busy, aggressive attacking style will fit perfectly with the Rangers’ style of play.

Christian Williams and Marcus Booth also had strong games in the middle, Williams in particular, was constantly busy and putting himself in the right place at the right time. 

Dexter Alderson led the pack in the absence of Austin Hines and he led from the front with his standard effort of strength and quality. Dex found some valuable offloads which, when he looks for them really enhance his game.

Sam Lee was strong at Hooker for most of the game. Sam looked confident and has really found his resilience in the face of aggressive defenders and made some telling contributions in defence, himself.

When it comes to defence, there’s nobody stronger than Vice-Captain and left-center, Dylan Greenwood. Methley attacked the Rangers’ left side several times but Greenwood was having none of it. Dylan led by example with his bomb-proof, defensive style and this really helped keep the team’s confidence up.

Whilst the result didn’t go our way, the boys gave a really strong account of themselves and with a little more resilience on the bench, particularly in the forwards, the result may have tipped in our favour.

Dewhirst and Clarke, again worked hard to organise and distribute. Dewhirst is now taking the play right to the gain-line and Clarke is standing out as a strong link between the middle and the edges. This was also a strong day for Clarke and probably his busiest game as a handler.

A nice stand-out element of the day was the attendance of new signing Lukan Fortunato who came all the way to Methley to support his new team and carry the water on. Lukan is a powerful prop-forward who gave us major problems when we played against him in the past and following the demise of Birkenshaw Blue Dogs U12’s, we’ve been lucky enough to get him in a Ranger’s kit. We look forward to his debut.